editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Neda Ulaby reports on arts, entertainment, and cultural trends for NPR's Arts Desk.Scouring the various and often overlapping worlds of art, music, television, film, new media and literature, Ulaby's radio and online stories reflect political and economic realities, cultural issues, obsessions and transitions, as well as artistic adventurousness— and awesomeness.Over the last few years, Ulaby has strengthened NPR's television coverage both in terms of programming and industry coverage and profiled breakout artists such as Ellen Page and Skylar Grey and behind-the-scenes tastemakers ranging from super producer Timbaland to James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features. Her stories have included a series on women record producers, an investigation into exhibitions of plastinated human bodies, and a look at the legacy of gay activist Harvey Milk. Her profiles have brought listeners into the worlds of such performers as Tyler Perry, Ryan Seacrest, Mark Ruffalo, and Courtney Love.Ulaby has earnedNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Neda UlabyFri, 09 Dec 2016 01:41:36 +0000Neda Ulabyhttp://wcbe.org
Neda UlabyIn the 1990s and early 2000s, TV shows didn't have a lot of love for mass transit — as Homer Simpson pronounced, "Public transportation is for jerks and lesbians."Even on iconic shows set in New York City, characters didn't take advantage of their mass transit options. The stars of Sex and the City rode in taxis and cars. Same with Seinfeld (except for that one time when Jerry's car was in the shop and Elaine was forced to take the subway.) So, too, in fictional Springfield — Alex Marshall, who has written about public transportation in popular culture, says he can't recall even seeing a bus on The Simpsons.But now, things have changed. On shows like Girls, The Mindy Project, Broad City and Mr. Robot, New York characters routinely use public transit. Watching Mr. Robot, Marshall says, "I almost feel like they're showing my life." (In a city-dweller sort of way, not a paranoid hacker sort of way.)Marshall is a public transportation fanboy. He appreciates when TV characters use subwaysStand Clear Of The Doors: TV Finally Gets On Board With Mass Transithttp://wcbe.org/post/stand-clear-doors-tv-finally-gets-board-mass-transit
100446 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 30 Nov 2016 13:10:00 +0000Stand Clear Of The Doors: TV Finally Gets On Board With Mass TransitNeda UlabyCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit MARTIN, HOST: And finally today, it's time for another installment in our series My Big Break. That's where we hear about pivotal moments in the lives of accomplished people. And normally when we say that we mean some chance meeting or opportunity that led to a breakthrough. But when we ask German filmmaker Werner Herzog about his big break, he took it in a direction all his own. WERNER HERZOG: I do not break. You can throw anything at me and the worse it gets, the more instantaneously I will tackle the problem. MARTIN: Which isn't to say that he hasn't had defining moments on the path to international renown. We'll get to some of those in a minute. But he credits his success to the way he's lived his life following his curiosity. HERZOG: Truth is I never had a career so to speak. I was just always somehow fascinated or haunted by ideas that are ferociously swinging at me like burglars in the night. MARTIN: That may be how Herzog has been able toAction Film Director Park Chan-Wook Transports Erotic 'Handmaiden' To 1930s Koreahttp://wcbe.org/post/action-film-director-park-chan-wook-transports-erotic-handmaiden-1930s-korea
99167 as http://wcbe.orgSun, 30 Oct 2016 13:06:00 +0000Action Film Director Park Chan-Wook Transports Erotic 'Handmaiden' To 1930s KoreaNeda UlabyIt's well-known that Dear Leader was crazy about movies. What's less known — at least in the West — is that infamous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was so crazy about them that he kidnapped a South Korean actress and a movie director in 1978 and forced them to work for him for years. That story is the subject of a new documentary called The Lovers and the Despot."It's just too bizarre to be real," says Ross Adam, one of the film's directors. He and co-director Robert Cannan tracked down actress Choi Eun-hee, who is now nearly 90 years old. In the documentary, Choi remembers getting lured to a seaside home in Hong Kong with an offer for a new film role. "There was a speedboat with three or four strong men," she recalls. "All of a sudden, a guy grabbed me by the arms. Before I knew it, I was on board. All the blood drained from my head to my toes."Choi was drugged and dragged to North Korea. She awoke as a captive of Kim Jong Il."He had a projection room in every house so he couldActing For Film Or Acting For Life? Doc Tells Story Of Kim Jong Il's Captiveshttp://wcbe.org/post/acting-film-or-acting-life-doc-tells-story-kim-jong-ils-captives
97775 as http://wcbe.orgTue, 27 Sep 2016 02:05:00 +0000Acting For Film Or Acting For Life? Doc Tells Story Of Kim Jong Il's CaptivesNeda UlabyWhen's the last time you ordered turtle when you went out to eat?Most of us would probably turn it down in an instant if we saw it on a menu. But terrapin was a completely normal entree for diners at the finest restaurants of a century ago. America's changing tastes — and what they have to say about our culture — are explored in a new nonfiction book, Ten Restaurants That Changed America.It begins with Delmonico's, a grand Gotham destination since 1837, with clubby red leather chairs, black and white tile floors and mahogany panels."You can't have the modern American restaurant without Delmonico's," explains author Paul Freedman. A professor of medieval history at Yale University, Freedman studied the spice trade before training his scholarly sights on the social history of the U.S., as told through eating out.Delmonico's was not the first restaurant in America, but it raised the bar, Freedman says, for all the hash houses, oyster cellars and taverns that were then the only places inFood For Thought: 10 Restaurants That Shaped Americahttp://wcbe.org/post/food-thought-10-restaurants-shaped-america
97597 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 21 Sep 2016 19:15:00 +0000Food For Thought: 10 Restaurants That Shaped AmericaNeda UlabyIt's a sweltering night in July and Los Angeles' Underground Museum is packed. "It's crowded and hot, but it feels really good," says vistor Jazzi McGilbert. Like much of the crowd, McGilbert is young, creative and African-American. She drove across town to this unassuming, bunkerlike storefront for an event that combines art and activism. The museum is one of her favorite spots in Los Angeles. "I like what it stands for," McGilbert says. "... And the art is incredible."The Underground Museum aims to promote cutting-edge African-American art, but inclusiveness is also part of its mission. "This is a black space," a message on the museum door reads, "but all are welcome."When artist Noah Davis founded the museum, he wanted to do two things: sidestep the existing gallery system, with its rigid hierarchies and gatekeepers, and bring world-class art to a neighborhood he likened to a food desert, meaning no grocery stores or museums. Davis died a year ago Monday of a rare form of cancer.AHe Died At 32, But A Young Artist Lives On In LA's Underground Museumhttp://wcbe.org/post/he-died-32-young-artist-lives-las-underground-museum
96613 as http://wcbe.orgMon, 29 Aug 2016 22:02:00 +0000He Died At 32, But A Young Artist Lives On In LA's Underground MuseumNeda UlabyIn four months, on the first Friday after the elections in November, Renee Montagne will step away from the host chair on Morning Edition after 12 years.That's 12 years of arriving at work every weekday at midnight. Montagne works out of the NPR West studio in Culver City, Calif., on the outskirts of Los Angeles. That means at 2 a.m. PT, she's sounding bright and fully caffeinated for Morning Edition's earliest East Coast broadcasts. Her punishing hours were a point of pride — but only to a point."It was unsustainable," Renee said in a phone conversation last night. "I live 2 1/2 blocks from the beach in Santa Monica. I've seen a handful of sunsets in 12 years."It's a part of life I don't want to complain about. I've enjoyed it and it's been a great experience, but at a certain point, I started thinking about leaving the show, contemplating what that would mean. And one of the first things I thought of was going out in the evening, getting a sense of the evening air. Seeing the sunset.Renee Montagne To Step Down As Host Of 'Morning Edition'http://wcbe.org/post/renee-montagne-step-down-host-morning-edition
94585 as http://wcbe.orgMon, 18 Jul 2016 14:59:00 +0000Renee Montagne To Step Down As Host Of 'Morning Edition'Neda UlabyCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.Black Lives Matter Activists Take It Off The Street And Into The Museumhttp://wcbe.org/post/black-lives-matter-activists-take-it-street-and-museum
94214 as http://wcbe.orgSun, 10 Jul 2016 21:18:00 +0000Black Lives Matter Activists Take It Off The Street And Into The MuseumNeda UlabyPhotographer Binh Danh spends his summers tooling around various national parks in a distinctive white van that doubles as a darkroom. "I nicknamed it 'Louis' after Louis Daguerre," the 38-year-old says, smiling from behind his professorial glasses. Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype in the 1830s, and Binh Danh has reinvented it for today. Using handmade materials, Danh coats sheets of copper with silver, polishes the plates to a blinding gleam and synthesizes them with iodine to create crystals that act as pixels.Danh's work is part of a larger tradition: More than 100 years ago, early photographers helped publicize the beauty of the national parks. Indeed, the parks might not have existed if it weren't for photographers like Carleton Watkins and Charles Weed, whose Yosemite images helped persuade Congress to establish the first national park.But Danh brings a contemporary perspective to his work. Now a professor at Arizona State University, he and his family arrived in the U.SNational Park Daguerreotypes Invite Viewers To 'Merge With The Land'http://wcbe.org/post/national-park-daguerreotypes-invite-viewers-merge-land
94017 as http://wcbe.orgTue, 05 Jul 2016 23:36:00 +0000National Park Daguerreotypes Invite Viewers To 'Merge With The Land'Neda UlabyCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.'Such A Magical Time': Harry Potter Fans Recall Growing Up Alongside Wizardhttp://wcbe.org/post/such-magical-time-harry-potter-fans-recall-growing-alongside-wizard
92663 as http://wcbe.orgTue, 07 Jun 2016 20:41:00 +0000'Such A Magical Time': Harry Potter Fans Recall Growing Up Alongside WizardNeda UlabyCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Tens of millions of Americans have been tuning in to March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Oh, what a save. And Lindsey with the finish.INSKEEP: Every game is televised - every game. But one of the biggest moments in basketball history was not. NPR's Neda Ulaby has the story of how an important piece of basketball history was almost lost.NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: It was about this time of year in 1962. The Philadelphia Warriors were playing the New York Knicks at the Hershey Sports Arena in Pennsylvania.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Chamberlain scores.ULABY: That March night, Wilt Chamberlain made history.UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: He knows what he's doing out here. He's going for one-zero-zero.ULABY: Chamberlain would score an unprecedented 100 points for the Warriors in that one game. His record remains unbroken.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDINGRare Tape Of Wilt Chamberlain's 100-Point Game To Be Archivedhttp://wcbe.org/post/tape-wilt-chamberlains-100-point-game-be-archived-national-recording-registry
89272 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 23 Mar 2016 09:13:00 +0000Rare Tape Of Wilt Chamberlain's 100-Point Game To Be ArchivedNeda UlabyCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The same day the president announced his nominee for the Supreme Court, this girl power song got a nod from the first lady.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS IS FOR MY GIRLS")UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Singing) This one's for my girls all around the world. Stand up with your head up. Don't take nothing from nobody. This is for my girls...SHAPIRO: The single is called "This Is For My Girls." And it features some of biggest names in the music industry. Michelle Obama introduced it at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Here's Michelle Obama earlier today sounding for all the world like a record label pitch woman.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)MICHELLE OBAMA: And I want everybody to download that song and I want us all singing that anthem.UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That's right.OBAMA: This is for our girls.UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That's right.ULABY: The song's performers include MissyMichelle Obama Promotes All-Star Song 'This Is For My Girls' At SXSWhttp://wcbe.org/post/michelle-obama-promotes-all-star-song-my-girls-sxsw
88973 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 16 Mar 2016 20:22:00 +0000Michelle Obama Promotes All-Star Song 'This Is For My Girls' At SXSWNeda UlabyAs if there's not enough controversy over the Oscars, there's also the matter of a curse.This Hollywood rumor is often said to have started back in 1993, when Marisa Tomei won best supporting actress for My Cousin Vinny. Rather than going on to star in huge movies, as one might expect of a comely and talented Oscar winner, Tomei's film career fizzled. She appeared in small roles, or small films. Even the legitimacy of her win became an urban legend. Thus the curse: Winning best supporting actress is a career killer.The A-list, movie-star promise that an Academy Award might suggest never materialized with Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) or Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King), either — even though both are extremely accomplished thespians with impressive resumes. And Jennifer Hudson virtually disappeared from the big screen after Dreamgirls. Amy Nicholson, chief film critic for MTV News, points to Kim Basinger as yet another classic example."She won for L.A. Confidential and then she justWhat's Behind The Best Supporting Actress Curse? Plain, Old, Unmagical Sexismhttp://wcbe.org/post/whats-behind-best-supporting-actress-curse-plain-old-unmagical-sexism
87992 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 24 Feb 2016 23:34:00 +0000What's Behind The Best Supporting Actress Curse? Plain, Old, Unmagical SexismNeda Ulabyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmWBrN7QV6Y Chances are you've heard at least one song written by Diane Warren: "Rhythm of the Night," "Don't Turn Around," "Unbreak My Heart" and "If I Could Turn Back Time" are just a handful of her 70 or so Top 10 hits. Warren has penned hundreds of heartbreaking songs about intimacy and romance for Whitney Houston, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan and many, many more. But she's long sworn that she does not do romance in real life.When I met her at her LA offices and wondered about what it's like to write about things she doesn't experience herself, Warren immediately jumped in."Like love?" she asked. "You know, I haven't been in love the way most people have been in love. But I know what love feels like. I love my cat."She's serious, and she should be. To explain her engagement with these intense emotions, Warren points to a song she wrote for Aerosmith -- which happens to be the band's first ever No. 1 hit."You know, when I wrote 'I Don't WantDiane Warren On 'Til It Happens To You,' A Modern Anthem For A Hard Truthhttp://wcbe.org/post/diane-warren-til-it-happens-you-modern-anthem-hard-truth
87391 as http://wcbe.orgFri, 12 Feb 2016 22:05:00 +0000Diane Warren On 'Til It Happens To You,' A Modern Anthem For A Hard TruthNeda Ulaby"Look at someone like this guy right here," Alex Taub says, intently peering at his laptop screen.We're in Taub's office right off Union Square in New York City. It's the headquarters of SocialRank, the startup he co-founded. SocialRank shows companies and public figures with brands to promote which of their followers on Twitter and Instagram are most valuable.Taub's pulled up his own Twitter account to show me one of his own followers, someone who seems valuable."This guy's got 1.4 million followers," he says admiringly. "That's crazy. That's like, more followers than some of the big celebrities."But here's the thing. This guy tweets a little but almost no one ever responds. No one cares. In spite of all those followers, he's not really valuable, Taub says.Worldwide, ad spending on social media was estimated at nearly $24 billion last year. And figuring out the value of social media followers is a burgeoning business. Companies like Klout, Moz, Fruji and Markerly are all in the game.How Do You Measure Passion? Figuring The Value Of Social Media Followershttp://wcbe.org/post/how-do-you-measure-passion-figuring-value-social-media-followers
86592 as http://wcbe.orgThu, 28 Jan 2016 09:38:00 +0000How Do You Measure Passion? Figuring The Value Of Social Media FollowersNeda Ulabyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0I0Poe3qlg The Pritzker Architecture Prize is often called the Nobel for architects, and this year's winner is 48-year-old Chilean designer Alejandro Aravena. His prestige projects include the headquarters of a pharmaceutical company in China and a dormitory at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.But Aravena is known for socially conscious, sustainable design, often executed at staggering speed and on minuscule budgets.He pays careful attention to residents of the places where he builds. Aravena gave a TED Talk last year about redesigning the Chilean port city of Constitución — in just three months — after a devastating 2010 earthquake. It includes video footage of fraught town hall meetings, with upset people loudly yelling about their concerns."Participatory design is not a hippy, romantic, 'let's all drink together about the future of the city' kind of thing," Aravena says in the talk, with a slight whiff of weariness.Participatory design and the2016 Pritzker Prize Goes To Chilean Architect Alejandro Aravenahttp://wcbe.org/post/2016-pritzker-prize-goes-chilean-architect-alejandro-aravena
85911 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 13 Jan 2016 16:20:00 +00002016 Pritzker Prize Goes To Chilean Architect Alejandro AravenaNeda UlabyThe Great British Bake Off was the most popular program in Britain in 2015, and the show boasts a devout following in the U.S. [Ed. Note: If you're part of that U.S. following, be warned: We're about to discuss the most recent season, which hasn't yet aired in the U.S.]The show's latest winner, Nadiya Hussain, spent weeks whipping up traditional British pastries such as cream horns and iced buns, all while wearing a crisp white apron and a traditional black headscarf. "Nadiya has brought something special to The Bake Off," raved judge Paul Hollywood during the show's October finale. "Her ideas have flair. Her emotion, her passion were all in her bakes. She just nailed the whole final and that was the best tasting final we ever had."Hussain's win was widely seen as a triumph of British multiculturalism. And by regularly showing a headscarf-wearing Muslim woman outside the context of hate crimes, terrorism or politics, The Bake Off is part of a small but significant shift in how hijabIn 2015, TV Broke Ground By Showing Relatable Women In Hijabhttp://wcbe.org/post/2015-tv-broke-ground-showing-relatable-women-hijab
85402 as http://wcbe.orgFri, 01 Jan 2016 10:09:00 +0000In 2015, TV Broke Ground By Showing Relatable Women In HijabNeda UlabyEllsworth Kelly, one of the greatest American artists of the past century, has died at 92.Kelly died at his home in Spencertown, N.Y., says gallery owner Matthew Marks, who has represented the artist for two decades. Kelly is survived by his longtime partner Jack Shear.For seven decades, Kelly created pure, strong shapes and colors, immersive and brilliant. His vivid geometric blocks, in sculpture and paintings, are displayed at modern art museums from Paris to Houston to Boston to Berlin.He started his artistic career in France — but not by wearing a beret and standing behind an easel. He was in a U.S. Army uniform during World War II, serving in a special unit made mostly of artists. Their job was to fool the Germans into thinking there were more Allied forces than there actually were.Kelly told NPR in 2007 they did it partly by building fake tanks and trucks from wood and burlap."But later they were made in rubber — inflatable and they looked like the real thing," he said.After theArtist Ellsworth Kelly, Master Of Colorful Abstraction, Dies At 92http://wcbe.org/post/artist-ellsworth-kelly-master-colorful-abstraction-dies-92
85235 as http://wcbe.orgMon, 28 Dec 2015 12:08:00 +0000Artist Ellsworth Kelly, Master Of Colorful Abstraction, Dies At 92Neda UlabyFor many American Jews, Christmas Day means Chinese food and movies. But how do American Muslims spend their time on Christmas?Jesus is also revered as a prophet in Islam. "Muslims and Christians believe that Jesus is the only messiah," explains Hisham Mahmoud, an Arabic teacher at Harvard University. He points out that Jesus' mother, Mary, is considered by Muslims to be a saint. "In fact, there's an entire chapter in the Quran called 'Mary,' and the story of Jesus' birth is recounted in that chapter," he says.On Christmas Day, Mahmoud and his devout Muslim family fast."We also relate the story of Jesus and Mary," he says. "We read those passages in the Quran and we make sure the holiday is focused through and through on Jesus — peace and blessing be upon him — as opposed to feeding into the commercialization of this holiday."That's not to say that some American Muslims never participate in the more commercial side of Christmas: "All the Persians in my community went full-blownWhat American Muslims Do On Christmas: New Traditions Emergehttp://wcbe.org/post/what-american-muslims-do-christmas-new-traditions-emerge
85059 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 23 Dec 2015 10:33:00 +0000What American Muslims Do On Christmas: New Traditions EmergeNeda UlabySometimes an aging movie star must sit and watch as a charismatic newcomer steals the spotlight — even inanimate ones. R2-D2, the adorable little robot — or droid — first appeared in Star Wars in 1977. And over the years he's faced cute competition from Yoda, and the Ewoks. But the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, brings us what might be an even cuter new droid: BB-8.These days, the two men who built BB-8 have gotten used to people cooing over the droid's soulful, giant eye and its sweet, round silhouette. Matthew Denton supervised electronic design and development for the movie's characters; Joshua Lee is a senior animatronic designer.Some fans mocked BB-8 when its images first went public, for looking like a soccer ball, among other harmless things."It's got similar proportions to a baby," says Lee."And it has characterizations of a puppy," says Denton. "Like a puppy dog."BB-8 was first imagined by the film's director, J.J. Abrams, who sketched the little droid on a napkinThe Intimidating Task Behind This Season's Cutest Breakout Starhttp://wcbe.org/post/intimidating-task-behind-seasons-cutest-breakout-star
84918 as http://wcbe.orgSat, 19 Dec 2015 14:27:00 +0000The Intimidating Task Behind This Season's Cutest Breakout StarNeda UlabyFor some of us, the best part of Thanksgiving comes from a forkful of flavors all swirled together — turkey, gravy, cranberry and stuffing. It's a savory symphony in your mouth.Chefs in New York City are experimenting with putting together all of those ingredients into a one-bite Thanksgiving dinner.Right now you can buy a croissant at Milk Bar in the East Village (and at the location in Washington, D.C.) stuffed with turkey, gravy and cranberries in a celery-flavored dough. There's also a Gobble Gobble meatball with ground turkey, dried cranberries and stuffing at a local chain called the Meatball Shop.For another all-in-one bite of Thanksgiving, you can visit Mimi Cheng's Dumplings.Marian Cheng and her sister Hannah sell dumplings like their Taiwanese mom makes. In November, they stuff a seasonal version with traditional Thanksgiving ingredients and serve a cranberry dipping sauce on the side. Marian Cheng says proportions are key."We need a lot of gravy in there, but we don't wantNew York Restaurants Serve Up Thanksgiving In One Tasty Bitehttp://wcbe.org/post/new-york-restaurants-serve-thanksgiving-one-tasty-bite
83797 as http://wcbe.orgWed, 25 Nov 2015 09:35:00 +0000New York Restaurants Serve Up Thanksgiving In One Tasty Bite